Eldorado Hills Rider Wins Amgen Stage 4

Evan Huffman talks with Capital Public Radio before Amgen stage 1 in Sacramento. The Eldorado Hills member of the Rally racing team. He is the first rider from a Continental team to win an Amgen stage against Pro Continental and World Tour teams.

Bob Moffitt / Capital Public Radio

Evan Huffman was on the podium after last year's Amgen Tour of California landed in Santa Clarita.This year, he one-upped himself.

Huffman finished second at the Santa Clarita stage in 2016. This year, he and Rally teammate Rob Britton finished 1-2 after doing something that is relatively rare at Amgen: turning a breakaway into a place on the podium.

BORA-hansgrohe’s Peter Sagan won the race for third as the peloton ran out of time and space to catch the Rally teammates.

Of some note, Rally is a Continental team, the lowest ranking of the three top types of teams in World Tour cycling.

Pro Continental is the next level above that, with World Tour teams considered the best of the best.With Amgen joining the World Tour this year, it was supposed to decline invitations to any of the five Continental teams that raced last year. But, Amgen asked for a waiver for two teams.

Rally and Jelly Belly were the two invited.

"To win a stage is just incredible," Huffman said. "We just worked so hard all year so everyone’s just over the moon thrilled.”

Sagan still has the Best Sprinter jersey while United Healthcare's Daniel Jaramillo still has the King of the Mountain Jersey.

BORA-hansgrohe’s Rafal Majkat still has a two-second lead overTeam LottoNL-Jumbo’s George Bennett and a 14-second lead over Team Sky’s Ian Boswell for the overall lead.

Majkat took the Tour de France’s King of the Mountain classification in 2016.

Bob reports on all things northern California and Nevada. His coverage of police technology, local athletes, and the environment has won a regional Associated Press and several Edward R. Murrow awards. Read Full Bio